Эллери Куин: Dutch Shoe Mystery

Ellery pounded the desk. “I said, gentlemen, several times during the past week’s investigation that those shoes told me an important — an all-important — story. They did. From the adhesive on the lace I conjured a professionally minded person connected with the Dutch Memorial Hospital; from the tongues I conjured a woman.

“It was the first indication that the impersonator was not only posing as another individual but also as an individual of the opposite sex. Id est, a woman made up as a man!”

Some one sighed. Sampson muttered, “Evidence...” and the Police Commissioner’s eyes gleamed with appreciation. Dr. Minchen stared at his friend as if he were viewing him for the first time. The Inspector said nothing, sunk in reflection.

Ellery shrugged his shoulders. “Before I leave the shoes to tackle another angle of the problem, it might be interesting to point out the lack of discrepancy between the heights of the two heels. Both were worn down to approximately the same degree. If they had been Dr. Janney’s shoes one heel would have been worn away considerably more than another — Janney limped heavily on one foot, as you know.

“The shoes, then, weren’t Janney’s; and while this did not prove that Janney wasn’t the murderer, since he could have left some one else’s shoes in the telephone booth for us to find, or worn the equal-heeled shoes, still not his own, these equal-heeled shoes made a good corroborative assumption that Dr. Janney was innocent; that is, that he was actually impersonated. For of course the thought crossed more than one mind that Janney might have impersonated himself — pretended that some one else was using his identity, while in reality it was he himself all the time.

“I didn’t believe this from the first. Look: If Janney himself was the person we have nominated as the ‘impostor,’ he could have done the whole bloody job in his own surgical clothes, the ones he wore that morning. That would mean that the clothing we found in the booth was a ‘plant’ — not used while he committed the crime, merely left to give a false impression. But how about the adhesive and tongues in the shoes? Those shoes were certainly used, as I’ve proved. And how about the basted trousers — the second essential point about the clothes? I’ll take them up in a moment... But as for impersonating himself — why didn’t he produce Swanson to substantiate his alibi that he was in his office during the crime-period? That would be the inevitable thing for him to do. But he stubbornly refused to produce Swanson, thereby with his full realization of the results putting his head into the noose of police suspicion. No, his actions as well as the clothes cleared him in my mind of the possibility that he impersonated himself.

“As for the basted trousers — why were they basted?

“If Janney had planted them, he wouldn’t have had to wear them — as I said, the clothes he was wearing would have served. Then the basting was another plant? For what purpose? To mislead us as to the murderer’s height — to make us think the impostor was two inches shorter than he actually was? But this is sheer nonsense, for the murderer knew he couldn’t mislead as to his height; it had to be part of his plan to be seen during the impersonation period, thereby establishing his height in the eyes of witnesses. No, the basting was for the legitimate purpose of shortening the trousers that were too long for the murderer. Beyond a doubt, these trousers were literally on the legs of the murderer during the impersonation.”

Ellery smiled. “I subdivided my possibilities, as before, into complementary classifications; this time into four all-inclusive ones. The impostor could have been: one, a man connected with the Hospital; two, a man not connected with the Hospital; three, a woman not connected with the Hospital; four, a woman connected with the Hospital.

“See how three of these were quickly weeded.

“The impostor couldn’t have been a man connected with the Hospital. Every man so connected by rigid rule had to wear, and did wear at all times on the premises, a white uniform of which white trousers were a necessary part. If a man connected with the Hospital was the impersonator, therefore, he was already wearing white trousers before the crime. Why then should he divest himself of these whites (which fit him), put on the telephone-booth whites (which didn’t fit him), and then proceed to commit the crime? It’s inane. If such a man wanted to impersonate Janney, he would commit the crime wearing his own white trousers, leaving no other trousers to be found. But trousers were found, and we’ve shown that they weren’t a plant; that is to say, that they were actually worn by the impersonator. However, if the trousers were actually worn by the impersonator it was only because he was not already wearing regulation pants.

“If he were not already wearing regulation pants, the impostor could not have been a man connected with the Hospital. Quod erat demonstrandum.

“Secundus. It could not have been a man not connected with the Hospital. For by our reasoning from the use of the adhesive we had already eliminated all people not connected with the Hospital.

“In this connection, you might say: Well, how about men like Philip Morehouse and Hendrik Doorn, and Cudahy’s thugs? They didn’t wear the hospital uniform.

“The reply to this is: While Morehouse, Doorn and the thugs would have to wear a uniform to impersonate Janney, none of them was well enough acquainted with the Hospital to know exactly where to get the tape. Doorn might have known, to stretch a point; but then his physical make-up was against the possibility — too gross and huge. The impostor seen going into the Anteroom was very near to Janney’s physique — and Janney was a small, slender man. As for Morehouse, there was nothing to indicate that he knew where supplies were kept; and this applies also to Cudahy’s little army. Cudahy himself wasn’t the remotest possibility; he was being anæsthetized while Mrs. Doorn was being strangled. And all the other men in the case with a professional background were eliminated because, as I have shown, it would not have been necessary for them to change trousers — Dunning, Janney, Dr. Minchen, the internes, Cobb, the elevator-men — the whole kit and boodle of ’em wore the regulation white uniform.

“Then it wasn’t a man, either connected or unconnected with the Hospital. Corroboration!

“Women? Let’s see. It couldn’t have been a woman not connected with the Hospital because while she would have to wear trousers for the impersonation, since she normally wears skirts, the adhesive reasoning again removes such a person, for by definition such a person is unconnected with the Hospital.

“The only other possibility, then, from this complex system of cross-checks, was that the impostor-murderer was a woman connected with the Hospital. Under this head came Hulda Doorn and Sarah Fuller, who were naturally as familiar with the Hospital as Mrs. Doorn herself; Edith Dunning, who worked there; Dr. Pennini, the woman-obstetrician; and all other females, like nurses and mopwomen, on the premises.

“Can we re-check?

“Yes! A woman connected with the Hospital of the impostor’s approximate size would have needed white trousers for the impersonation and would have been forced to leave them somewhere in order to return to her identity as a female. Being a medium-sized woman she would have had to shorten the long trousers by basting. The small physical size would also account for the tongues being caught in the shoes, since most women’s feet are much smaller and slimmer than men’s, and it was men’s shoes she had to wear. And, finally, a woman connected with the Hospital would instinctively think of adhesive and know where to get it without a moment’s delay.